Is Avatar Based on a Book?

The movie Avatar with the Navi and Pandora not Avatar The Last Airbender!
is Avatar based on a book because i will really buy the book, I just liked this movie so much. Or is it its own story? James Cameron is an absolute genius, he created a whole new world inside a screen.

The story is not based in a book, it was created by the director of the film.

The concept from Avatar however is based on Hindu philosophy.
"Avatar" is a Sanskrit language word used in Hindu scriptures, which means incarnation.
The prophecy has been already done many centuries ago that the Lord Vishnu (One of the three trinity in Hinduism) will descend as the 10th and last incarnation as Kalki avatar in India.
Painters usually paint the lords as blue color to give them divine look and in james cameroon movie avatar too the main character is of Blue color. Avatar philosophy is the one of the most centralized philosophy of Hinduism.

The movie is not BASED on a book. However there is a book where the story is EXACTLY the same, yet has been given no credit. A short story called Call Me Joe written by Poul Anderson in 1957 is the original story of Avatar.

The movie is not BASED on a book. However there is a book where the story is EXACTLY the same, yet has been given no credit. A short story called Call Me Joe written by Poul Anderson in 1957 is the original story of Avatar.

There's at least one other short story, about a planet covered with interconnected vegetation that is sentient--I'll have to look that one up tonight. And then there's the Dragon Rider's series by Anne McCaffery. Cameron doesn't appear to have an original idea in this movie. Absolutely loved the visuals, though. Jurasic Park showed us anything was possible, and this movie is the first to really deliver on that idea.

Absolutely IS based on a book.
Frank herbert (the author of Dune) wrote a 4 book series (1966 - 1988) in the world he created and the last 3 books take place on a planet called Pandora where there is almost no dry land. in book 3 of the series (titled The Lazarus Effect) mutant humans are engaging in political and physical warfare with the more genetically perfect Mermen who live under the water. The planet's life-force, called "Avata" (note that there is no "r"), is present in all organic matter (particularly kelp) on the natural planet in a sort of Gaia-esque sentient way.

Great books, by the way - I haven't seen the movie, but i've read about it's plot and couldn't ignore the similarities. Let's give credit where it's due.

There is a novel called Midworld (written 1977) by Alan Dean Foster which has several common elements with the movie.
The book follows a human native of a jungle world who has a semi-symbiotic relationship with a baboon-like creature and lives in a very large tree called The Home Tree. He rescues 2 earth humans and brings them back to their base, which is run by a corporation in order to exploit the planet. Along the way they encounter a lot of beasties and he tries to teach them to live in harmony with the jungle. They arrive at the station safely, but he decides that they will not learn and need to be expelled from the planet. He enlists the help of jungle creatures and destroys the base, ending the threat from the corporation. At the end we see a burial ceremony where his friend is buried within a special tree and his brain is linked by tree filaments to a planet-wide network of trees forming an intelligence that indirectly links the planet together.
To those who've seen Avatar, you can see the obvious similarities between these 2 stories. Avatar feels like it has Midworld as its central spine but with other story bits grafted on;
Human protagonist
Flying symbiotic creatures instead of baboons
The prophesied hero, a la Luke Skywalker or Neo
The idea of weak "real" body and strong virtual reality alter ego of The Matrix, as well the large robot suits.
The armed shuttle looks suspiciously like a very large version of the Marine Drop shuttle from Aliens.
And of course the obligatory mass battle scene for the climax.

Both stories end with the corporation booted off the planet. I guess it's cheaper for James Cameron to say it's an original screenplay to avoid paying royalties to anyone, and to avoid people comparing it to the original book.
Still, it's a fantastic movie!

The similarity for me was that in Midworld human linked up with furcots similar to the link with the flying dragons. Additionally, the forest had a consciousness such that when a humans die in either story the forest has there life experience as part of the stored knowledge. In Midworld (which I haven't read since 1975/76 time frame. The death of a human and furcot somehow produced a new furcot. Go figure.

I believe the question was is it based on a book not is it similar to another story you may have read. Where in they all may be great books and I am actually thinking of reading a couple that where described here unless it is THE SAME story then the answer would be no. After all who knows where anyone gets their ideas from? We may claim it is 100% our own but chances are it resembles something someone thought of once before at least a tiny bit even if we have never heard of it ourselves.